Friday, July 03, 2009

July 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter

Peter Suber just released the July 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter. Peter's feature article this month is on Open Access for Digitization Projects, a thorough piece on the philosophical elements underlying OA and digitization, such as balancing public access / public domain and private rights. For example, when public funds are used to digitize material under private copyright, the public funder has every right to expect concessions to the public rights that come with public funding; some projects may need to allow private parties embargoed rights to move forward, however the embargo period should be much less than what is allowed under copyright, and when projects are competing for funds, the public funder has every right to prioritize projects that provide the best public benefits, such as little or no embargo. Highly recommended reading for anyone involved in digitization.